Michelle Ananda-Rajah (Victoria, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

The Liberals and Nationals say that they want more homes, but they keep standing in the way and they have form. I was here in the first term of government, in the other place, and I distinctly recall how the Liberals, Nationals and Greens political parties teamed up and delayed the Housing Australia Future Fund. They delayed that fund—$10 billion to build social and affordable homes—for a year. Now, Senator Bragg stood up here, in this chamber, and said that it's been operating for two years and hasn't built a single home. In fact, the Housing Australia Future Fund went live in September 2024. That was the first round of funding. It has had two rounds of funding, and, right now, there are 28,000 homes that are either in planning or in construction, not just due to that but due to other measures as well.

The second important housing program that they delayed—using the same strategy: they palled up with their new best buddies, the Greens political party—was the Help to Buy scheme. That can was kicked down the road. I remember it distinctly because I told my entire electorate about it, and they weren't happy. You are gifting me another one. Thank you. I will be telling everyone in Victoria about this little stunt. You kicked that can down the road. Help to Buy was designed for the people at the bottom of the pile, the people with the most modest incomes—cleaners and people who have never dreamt of having a home. Help to Buy was designed for them. The Liberals, Nationals and Greens took it upon themselves to delay that scheme. Help to Buy enables homeowners to enter the market with as little as a two per cent deposit, with the government stumping up 30 to 40 per cent of the equity so you only need a very low deposit and have very low mortgage repayments. We're getting the states to sign on to Help to Buy, and that will also go live, providing another plank in our housing program.

But that's not all. Build to rent is a really important pillar in our housing program. For those who aren't sure about it, build to rent has actually been operating in the UK for the last 13 years. It is well-established in the UK. The UK has around 300,000 build-to-rent properties either in construction or already built. It is well-established. Yes, they are supported by the likes of pension funds. Given the scale of the problem that we are facing in Australia, which is essentially market failure staring us in the face, we have to pull multiple levers. This is a complex problem. With complex problems, just like in medicine, you've got to tackle them on multiple fronts. You don't do one thing; you do everything. Build to rent is a welcome tool in our armamentarium. It means that we deepen our access to capital markets. Increasingly, building property needs a mix of domestic capital as well as offshore capital, and that offshore capital may come in the form of pension funds from overseas or sovereign wealth funds. If they want to build homes for Australians—great; we welcome it. That was the whole point of this. Often, that capital is mixing with capital domestically as well to build these homes.

The Property Council estimate that 80,000 homes will be built over the next five to 10 years, of which 10 per cent will be ring fenced for social and affordable. These properties will have five-year tenure and prevent no-fault evictions—again, speaking to the work we have done with the states in protecting and improving renters' rights. It does mean that Australians will now have options. So, just like on 1 October, those who want to enter the housing market will now have an opportunity as we launch an expanded version of the Home Guarantee Scheme. We will now have an opportunity for those people who wish to rent for longer to do so.

But there is a presumption in this chamber that build to rent stops there, that it's lifelong renting. That's not the case. People often start renting at some point in their life, and they may transition out into homeownership. We're creating those pathways for them by expanding the Home Guarantee Scheme. There are also newer products that are emerging in Australia. It's not just build to rent anymore. Speaking to super funds here in Australia, I know that there is now a new product, build to rent to buy, which actually enables people to first enter into a build-to-rent model and then, subsequently, have the option to purchase that apartment or unit—whatever the case may be.

You can see that, by creating an ecosystem with a variety of different products out there, the market starts to shift and change to meet the needs of the consumer. That's what we're trying to facilitate as a government. We're not trying to dictate; we're trying to provide Australians, particularly young Australians, with a choice so that, if they want to enter the housing market, they can put their hand up, line up their ducks, go and see the bank, get their finances in order and delve into homeownership. On 1 October, the Home Guarantee Scheme will open up to all first home buyers. It will not be means tested. We have removed the income caps. There will be caps on properties. For example, in Victoria, in Melbourne and Geelong, properties will be capped at around $950,000. For everywhere else in Victoria, it'll be around $650,000. It's hardly the case that the children of billionaires, as Senator Bragg asserts, will be purchasing these properties. What an overexaggeration, a complete hyperbole. We are also interested in accelerating the building process by slashing red tape. We're doing that by taking the National Construction Code, for example, pausing it for a period of four to five years and simplifying it in that interim period, because we've heard feedback from the construction industry.